Self-righting marker

ABSTRACT

An upright marker for use in designating a selected spot on a floor or ground surface and having a weighted base with a rounded bottom to automatically return the marker to its uprights condition when knocked or blown over. The marker has colored walls which diverge in their upward extension from the base for greater visibility and the upper half of the marker may have the reverse shape of the lower half to allow the upper to be collapsed into the lower half for stacking of the markers.

United States Patent Sau tbine Oct. 24, 1972 [54] SELF-RIGHTING MARKER FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS Inventor: Willis Sautbine, Waterville, Mich- 529,271 11/1940 Great Britain ..46/155 5696 1,375,270 9/1964 France ..116/63 P [22] Filed: June 3, 1971 Primary Examiner-Louis J. Capozi [2]] Appl' 149462 Attorney-Carlsen, Carlsen & Sturm [52] US. Cl ..116/63 P, 40/125 N, 40/145 A, [57] ABSTRACT 46/155 [51] Int. Cl. ..E01t9/10 An upright marker for use in designating a selected 581 Field 61 Search..1 16/63, 63 P; 40/145 A, 125 N; p on a floor or ground Surface and having a 94/ 1 .5; 52/174; 46/155 weighted base with a rounded bottom to automatically return the marker to its uprights condition when [56] References Cited knocked or blown over. The marker has colored walls which diverge in their upward extension from the base UNITED STATES PATENTS for greater visibility and the upper half of the marker 1,228,615 6/ 1917 Stafiord ..40/145 A ay have the reverse shape of the lower half to allow 2,104,762 1/1938 Rmer ..46/155 UX the upper to he collapsed into the lower h lf f 2,554,516 5/ 1951 Anthony ..46/ 155 X stacking f the markers 2,762,328 9/1956 Weig ..l16/63 P 2,800,099 7/1957 Baker ..40/125 N 4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEDnm 24 912 INVENTOR. W/il/S T- SJUTB/N 4 rrazmws SELF-RIGHTING MARKER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to portable markers such as may be used to mark a given spot on a playground, gymnasium floor, highway or the like.

In various games played by children it is desirable to have certain points on the ground or floor surface marked. The markers may indicate a goal or a spot around which the. players must run, such as a relay race, or the like. Generally in indoor activity such spots are marked by a chair or some piece of gym equipment which might well injure a child should he run into it or trip over it. In outdoor playground activity such spots are frequently marked by sticking a piece of wood or a metal stake into the ground again presenting a hazard to a child who might fall upon or trip over it.

It is also desirable that such markers be self-righting in the event that they are knocked over and that they be stackable for packaging and storage.

While the prior art in US. Pat. No. 3,386,409 does show a self-righting marker or cone for traffic control, it lacks certain advantages of the present invention which will hereinafter be brought to light.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a marker particularly adapted for use in designating a spot on a floor or ground surface during a relay game or the like which is self-righting when overturned and which is so constructed as to present minimal chances of injuring a person falling upon it.

Another object of the invention is to provide a ground or surface marker which has a large observable surface area and yet which can be collapsed for stacking during storage.

With these and other objects in view the invention broadly comprises an upright generally tubular shell of flexible plastic material having a broad weighted base with a rounded bottom to yieldably retain the shell in an upright position and with the diameter of the shell gradually reducing in either direction from a vertically medial line whereby the upper portion thereof may be collapsed into the lower portion to facilitate nesting of a plurality of the shells.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of the marker in operative position.

FIG. 2 is a vertical section through the marker.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the marker.

FIG. 4 is a vertical section through the marker in collapsed condition for stacking and storage.

FIG. 5 is a side elevation view of a modified form of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now more particularly to the drawing reference numerals will be used to denote like structural features in the difierent views. The preferred embodiment of the marker is designated generally by the number 10. The outer shell 11 is formed of a flexible plastic material such as plastisol vinyl dispersion,

polyethylene by any well known method such as rotational or blow molding or a vacuum forming process. The shell may also be formed of upper and lower injection molded halves which may be welded together. In any-event, shell 11 has an upper frustoconical section with a side wall 12 and a top wall 14 which is configured to have an annular depression 15 therein which surrounds a center manually grippable knob 16. A circumferential series of apertures 17 may be provided in the top wall.

The lower section or half of shell 11 has an inverted frusto conical shape which is approximately the same size as the upper section. The lower section has an annular side wall 18 and a bottom wall 19. A series of apertures 20 are provided in wall 18 just above bottom wall 19.

A weighted base is attached to shell 11 below the bottom wall 19. This comprises a cup-shaped circular section 21 of the same material as shell 11. Section 21 is filled with a weighted material 22. Section 21 has a flat bottom adapted to rest on a floor or ground surface S with the annular side wall curving into alignment with wall 18.

It will be understood that weight 22 will yieldably retain the marker in the upright position of FIGS. 1 and 2. While it can be freely overturned, the weight and rounded base section 21 will tend to self-right the marker again.

It will be noted that the vertically medial portion of the marker is larger than the base and that the height of the marker is substantially greater than the diameter so that the marker can be clearly seen from a distance.

The marker may be readily collapsed to the condition shown in FIG. 4 for shipment or storage. This is accomplished merely by depressing top wall 14 downwardly turning the upper wall 12 inside out. Apertures 17 and 20 allow air to be expelled from shell 11 during the collapsing movement.

When the marker is collapsed as in FIG. 4, several markers may be nested for storage. To reerect the marker knob 16 is pulled upwardly.

FIG. 5 shows a slight variation in the design with the outer shell 30 having an ovular or parabolic shape. The upper and lower halves, however, are reversely nearly identical so that the upper half may be collapsed into the lower half just as shown in FIG. 4 of the preferred embodiment. The device may also be made so as to have a spherical shape.

The material forming shell 11 is preferably brightly colored such as yellow, orange or red to contrast with the ground or floor surface on which it is used for greater visibility. It might be desirable to reduce the thickness of the shell 11 at the junction between walls 12 and 18 or in the vertically medial area of shell 30 to render the device more easily collapsible.

The construction accordingly presents a self-righting highly observable marker that is safe to use in childrens games and which may be readily collapsed and stacked for storage.

Having now therefore fully illustrated and described my invention, what I claim to be new and desire to protect by United States Letters Patent is:

1. A marker for marking a spot on a ground or floor surface comprising, I

a. an upright hollow shell of flexible plastic material having a horizontally annular side wall,

downwardly into the lower half.

3. The subject matter of claim 2 wherein the shell upper half is provided with a top having a manually grippable handle at the center thereof for withdrawing said upper half upwardly from the lower half to convert the shell from collapsed to erect condition.

4. The subject matter of claim 1 wherein said side wall is provided with a series of horizontally aligned apertures just above the base. 

1. A marker for marking a spot on a ground or floor surface comprising, a. an upright hollow shell of flexible plastic material having a horizontally annular side wall, b. a weighted circular base on the shell having a rounded bottom so as to automatically return the shell to an upright position when it is overturned, c. the diameter of the side wall increasing in its upward extension from the base for a distance greater than the diameter of the base.
 2. The subject matter of claim 1 wherein the shell has upper and lower complementary halves of substantially equal size and shape meeting on a line of their greatest diameter permitting the upper half to be collapsed downwardly into the lower half.
 3. The subject matter of claim 2 wherein the shell upper half is provided with a top having a manually grippable handle at the center thereof for withdrawing said upper half upwardly from the lower half to convErt the shell from collapsed to erect condition.
 4. The subject matter of claim 1 wherein said side wall is provided with a series of horizontally aligned apertures just above the base. 